TSUNAMI OF GOALS PUTS CUP IN REACH
AUSTRALIA’S Women’s Asian Cup campaign is well and truly back on track following an 8-0 win over an outclassed Vietnam in Jordan.
An opening scoreless draw against South Korea left little margin for error yesterday but the Matildas responded in perfect fashion with a onesided victory to sit top of their group on goal difference.
The rout means Australia need to only draw their final group match against Japan to reach the semi-finals, and at the same time shore up one of the five tickets available to next year’s Women’s World Cup.
Coach Alen Stajcic made seven changes to his side and one of those new faces, Kyah Simon, was first on the scoresheet.
Simon netted from closerange after seven minutes before Alanna Kennedy, Chloe Logarzo and Emily van Egmond ensured the match was effectively over as a contest by the half-hour mark.
Sam Kerr scored either side of halftime, while Gold Coaster Hayley Raso and a Vietnamese own goal completed the tally.
“It was an up and down game from us,” said Stajcic.
“There was lots of good passages of play, but plenty of areas where we could have had better execution.”
Despite the goal avalanche, there is still room for improvement with some of the team’s trademark attacking combinations missing on occasions.